Transcriptome led microbial discovery.
Using a genome wide transcriptomic approach, Karl was able to unravel the role of the Pseudomonas global
activator system (GacA/GacS) in the regulation of an extremely broad range of functions including iron acquisition, oxidative stress response, secondary metabolism and motility. Similar work in Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterium that is emerging as a major human pathogen due to multiple drug resistance, has revealed the antibiotic efflux to be major mode of resistance and led to the discovery of novel resistance proteins. Karl is a post-
doctoral fellow at Macquarie University working in Prof. Ian Paulsen’s group.